


He Remembers

by 6121AU



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Awkward Crush, Childhood, Childhood Memories, Crayons, Friendship/Love, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 18:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20430410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/6121AU/pseuds/6121AU
Summary: They spent twelve years being best friends, but that changed at age seventeen.





	He Remembers

Jongdae remembers when they were six years old. He and Chanyeol sat on his bedroom floor in silence, dodging each others' shy glances as they listened to pots clanging and the faucet running in the kitchen. Their mums were class-mothers and the two of them were experimenting with dessert recipes for their class's Halloween party.

His eyes finally caught the box of bright crayons on his desk and asked Chanyeol if he wanted to colour. He readily agreed. He told Jongdae that he liked colouring with him more than he liked colouring with his friends, because Jongdae used the reds and the pinks instead of fighting with him over the blues and the greens.

Jongdae remembers when they were seven years old. They weren't in the same class anymore, but he still saw Chanyeol every day. They would go to the park and play on the playground until the older kids started teasing them about their jungle-gym "house" and how he was Jongdae’s pretend husband.

They moved over to the sandbox, where, for a little while, they remained unbothered. The bigger kids eventually sauntered over and continued their mockery and Jongdae remembers how furious Chanyeol was when they pushed him into the sand. Chanyeol got yelled at that evening when his house received a phone-call from one of older boy's mothers regarding a bruise on her son's face. His mother said that he was never, under any circumstances, allowed to hit someone ever again.

Jongdae remembers when they were eight years old. Chanyeol had a birthday party at his house and while he stood on line for "Pin the Tail on the Donkey," one of Chanyeol’s cousins told him that his yellow jumpsuit was ugly. He found him sitting in the downstairs closet. Jongdae tried to pretend that he wasn't crying.

He stayed there with him for almost an hour, until his mother called him upstairs to blow out his candles. In five minutes Chanyeol was back, holding two pieces of freshly-sliced birthday cake.

Jongdae remembers when they were nine years old. They were playing hide-and-seek in Chanyeol’s backyard. He went to hide behind the tool shed at the very edge of the yard and fell into the canal. He couldn't swim and thrashed around wildly, yelling for help.

Chanyeol couldn't swim either, but he eagerly jumped in anyway. He surprised both of them when he made his way over to and held Jongdae’s head above the water long enough for him to reach the ladder.

Jongdae remembers when they were ten years old. They sat in the principle's office as she paced back and forth, practically fuming about the current state of the cafeteria. They were barely listening. He grinned at the way Chanyeol had spaghetti sauce all over his face and mashed potatoes on his shirt.

The two of them broke out into shaking fits of laughter when he reached up and pulled a sliced cucumber out of Jongdae’s hair. The principle, infuriated with their lack of seriousness, balanced the phone between her chin and her shoulder as she angrily dialed numbers. Their mothers had to pick them up from school early that day.

Jongdae remembers when they were eleven years old. Chanyeol wanted to watch a scary movie, so they took one from his older brother's movie collection. They sat on the couch with the lights off.

When he screamed because he was in no way prepared for the gore and terrifying images, Chanyeol grabbed onto his hand. He held Jongdae’s hand throughout the movie. When the credits rolled and he finally pointed out that it was over, his face turned red. He let go.

Jongdae remembers when they were twelve years old. Chanyeol got his first girlfriend when they went on a school trip to the museum. He wouldn't stop talking about her. He kept mentioning her long black hair and how she held his hand on the bus ride home.

Jongdae and Chanyeol got into their first fight over that, because he had promised to sit with him on the bus. They didn't talk for almost two weeks, but he eventually got a telephone call one day after school. Chanyeol said he was sorry about how stupid he acted and that she wasn't his girlfriend anymore. Jongdae forgave him, and they never mentioned it again. He never found out what happened with her or why she stopped being his girlfriend.

Jongdae remembers when they were thirteen years old. They picked the worst possible day to walk home from school because it was pouring rain by the time three o'clock rolled around. They jumped in every single puddle they passed, just like they used to when they were younger.

They wrapped themselves in towels when they got back to Chanyeol’s house. Jongdae sat on the staircase and so did he, and then he asked if he could kiss him. It took him a moment respond and in that moment Chanyeol must have thought it over, because he changed his mind. He told Jongdae to forget that he mentioned it because they were best friends and that was all.

Jongdae remembers when they were fourteen years old. They had their first high-school dance and since neither of them had dates, they decided to go together. They sat at a table alone, just talking because Chanyeol couldn't dance and he didn't like the type of music.

They got tired of people making fun of them, so they left the dance half way through. They went to a diner instead and ordered a few milkshakes. The rumours at school the next day claimed that they left the dance to go make out somewhere.

Jongdae remembers when they were fifteen years old. He answered the door in pajama pants and an old t-shirt. His boyfriend of four and a half months had just dumped him, and Chanyeol was the first person he called.

He came prepared with a carton of ice cream and nearly a dozen of his older sister's chick movies that Jongdae knew he would hate sitting through. Chanyeol let him pick which ones he wanted to watch. Then sat there with him until he fell asleep, a half-finished movie on the television and a half-melted carton of ice cream on the table.

Jongdae remembers when they were sixteen years old. Chanyeol found him in the mall parking lot after school. For the past two days, he had cut all of his classes with a boy whose reputation was slightly less than admirable. He doesn’t think he’d ever seen Chanyeol that mad before.

They got into a huge fight in that parking lot. Chanyeol yelled at him for being so reckless and Jongdae yelled at him for trying to control him. By the end of the argument, he was absolutely fuming. For a moment, Jongdae thought he was going to punch him. Chanyeol wound back and punched the guy he was with instead.

Jongdae remembers when they were seventeen years old. They were lying on his bedroom floor, bored out of their minds. They passed the "what do you want to do" question back and forth for such a long time. His eye finally caught the box of bright crayons on his desk. He asked Chanyeol if he wanted to colour like they used to and he readily agreed.

Chanyeol held up his paper to show Jongdae. In green and blue crayon, he had written the words "I love you" across the page. He half-smiled and shook his head and waited for him to laugh it off. He told him he was serious. Chanyeol caught his lips and kissed him and when the doubt wore away Jongdae kissed him back.

They slowly pulled away, but not too far, and Chanyeol pressed his forehead against his. He told Jongdae that he remembered when they first coloured on his bedroom floor when they were six years old, and that he had loved him ever since then.


End file.
